Creating incentives for restoring old homes:

faster permitting process being considered

Commission members have been searching for ways to incentivize people to restore older homes. While the obstacles of sea level rise and the expense of making old homes resilient are harder problems to solve, members of the Commission’s Land Use Development Committee are considering if they might at least be able to turn a sometimes long permitting process into an incentive for owners undertaking restoration.

The Committee this week discussed the potential of speeding up the permitting process for “substantial renovations” which might include raising a home or building higher seawalls and other resilient measures. Commissioners have asked staff to look into creating a policy that would move permit applications for these types of renovations on pre-1966 homes ahead of others. Staff will come back next month with an estimate on costs, number of homes that could be involved, and the feasibility of implementing such a policy with fire department inspectors.

Commissioner Joy Malakoff chairs the Land Use Development Committee with members John Alemán and Micky Steinberg. Send them your thoughts.